Pro tip: Archiving email in the Android Inbox app

If you've finally managed to get your hands on a Google Inbox invite, you've probably spent a bit of time with the desktop service and possibly the mobile app. Most people either love or hate the changes made. If you happen to love the changes, you'll likely be using Inbox as your go-to Gmail app. If that's the case, you'll want to know how to do certain tasks — one of which will be to archive emails.

If you compare Gmail and Inbox (and really, there's no comparison), you'll find that Inbox has one particular "folder" that Gmail doesn't, called Done. As you might suspect, that Done folder is where Inbox emails go to rest — until said time that you might need to retrieve their information.

But how do you mark an email as Done? It's easier than you think, and you don't have to actually read the email to mark it as Done. Here's how:

Locate the email in question in your Inbox

Long-press the email

Tap the checkmark at the top of the window (Figure A)

Figure A

Inbox running on a Verizon-branded Droid Turbo.

You can also mark an email as Done by simply swiping the email (from the Inbox listing) to the right. If you accidentally swipe an email as Done, you can undo the action by tapping UNDO (Figure B).

Figure B

Undoing an accidental Done swiping.

It's also possible to mark an email Done from within the email itself. Do this by simply opening the email and tapping the checkmark.

To view all of your Done email, swipe right (from the left side of the screen) and tap the Done entry (Figure C).

Figure C

The Inbox sidebar showing the Done folder.

That's all there is to Inbox email archiving. It's fairly basic, simple, and ready for action.

Have you made the switch to Inbox? If so, did you stick with it or go back to Gmail? If you returned to the old-school ways, what didn't you like about Inbox? Let us know your thoughts in the discussion thread below.

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About Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.

Full Bio

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.